Diogo At The Palace PDC World Championships Day 6

It was our turn to be centre stage at the Ally Pally as sponsored player Diogo Portela played his match.

Ouch! Not even after a good night’s sleep has the pain gone. It was a big day yesterday for us of course and for our sponsored player Diogo Portela. Things were going so well, Diogo was 2 sets up, Ron looked defeated and bemused and it was one of those classic “what can possibly go wrong moments”.

They say a picture can paint a thousand words and this is the case in this brilliant photo by Lawrence Ludwig/PDC

During a very swift de-brief last night Diogo told me that things changed when he saw his average on the monitor during the break after the 2nd set. He remembers saying to himself “I really am playing well”, then that was it. Ron came storming back after the break and Diogo struggled to find the treble that minutes earlier was his second home.

A lesson is staying in the moment for you all during a game and to not let your mind wander.

But we can’t be too disheartened of course. Diogo won a shed load of new fans not just with his sportsmanship at the end of the match but with his fantastic play, which we know he is capable of, in the first two sets.

Let’s not forget also it was only a few years ago Diogo turned up at DPC HQ on the verge of quitting darts as his action was failing him. The video analysis kit did its job and through a massive amount of hard work Diogo has progressed so quickly to get where he is today.

Diogo also sported our sister company – Performance Darts patch and from a personal point of view that was a “magic moment” for us seeing that at the Ally Pally.

We have plans for next year including a new set of darts for Diogo – Challenger 3. In the meantime, there are a few sets left of his Challenger 2 signature darts as well as a few replica shirts in the DPC Darts Shop.

I am back at the Palace this afternoon to support a young player from the Netherlands Geert Nentjes, with who we have a kit sponsorship deal and he will be wearing the DPC patch. We wish him all the best!

I thought Brendan Dolan played well in his first round game. Cullen has pulled off some great results despite his unconventional throwing style this season. If he has one of his bad days though then Brendan is more than capable of winning. Huybrechts has had a rough year but maybe the Ally Pally stage can spring him back to life and we are adding him alongside Dolan